Lettuce
by Smudje
Summary: The team stumbles over a case in which Lisbon's brother is involved. For once Jane doesn't know how to handle a situation.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own.**

**A/N: I can't seem to stop trying my luck with multichaptered fics. But this time kind of have a plan. It sounds like a case fic. It has one but it's not the main focus of this story. It's about the characters.**

**Every mistake you find is mine. If they really bother you feel free to point the ou to me. I'll correct them.**

**I really don't know about the rating so I'll go with T just in case.  
**

* * *

**Lettuce**

-

-

-

-

-

„Well Lisbon wasn't that awesome?" Jane quipped lightly while putting pressure on his still bleeding nose.

Lisbon rolled her eyes to cover up the smile threatining to spread onto her face. This time Jane really hadn't deserved the punch but…. Well karma might just be catching up today.

"Yeah quite entertaining Jane," this time completely failing to hide the smile.

"The poor plastic car. It's definitely been screwed up making contact with your nose. And the big scary toddler being punished for physical assault now. You really shouldn't have tried to take it from him to show him one of your stupid magic tricks," Lisbon quipped amused totally relishing in Jane's situation.

In that moment Cho entered the kitchenette:" Boss we have a case. Some retarded person supposedly killed a child and won't let go of the body. The curious thing is that a social worker requested us to be on the scene. Didn't know that was possible. And the locals have no idea how to handle this."

Frowning Lisbon turned towards Jane raising an eyebrow questioningly at him if he was ready.

"Sure thing. I'm all set."

With that they headed out to their cars. In Mid step Lisbon suddenly turned around holding out her hand.

"Jane! Keys now!"

He simply responded with a knowing smirk and held his hands up showing that he was innocent.

"A murder has just taken place Jane. Be serious!"

"Meh…. No one's gonna run," he said still smiling.

Sending him a steely death glare Jane finally gave up the keys and they started to drive towards the curious scene.

Arriving on the scene Lisbon made her way towards the rest of the team that was positioned a few feet away from the actual scene.

"A men in his late thirties or early forties is sitting there cradling a child's body to his chest. I think he might have lost it," Cho said sounding not so monotone anymore.

Van Pelt made her way over to them:" The victim's name is Brandon Walker, he's nine years old.

A shaken up Rigsby approached them:" His parents haven't been informed yet."

Lisbon nodded:" Rigsby, go find the parents. Tell them. Van Pelt, Cho question the people loitering around the….."

Lisbon didn't get to finish giving out orders as she got a glimpse on the scene. It was disturbing seeing a grown man cradling a dead child to his chest. Rocking them back and forth as if he tried to sooth the child. You could hear him sing softly. Sobs were shaking the man's body, tears were covering his face. A greying woman sat beside him, talking to him. She tried to reach for his hand but he slapped it away. His clothes, hands and face were covered with the boy'S blood.

Slowly Lisbon moved towards the scene seemingly stuck in some sort of trance. Cho tried to hold her back with a hand on her shoulder. She shook it off.

The team felt helpless because they didn't understand their boss' reaction. Sure the scene was disturbing but Lisbon seemed so out of it. Solely focused on the man.

She showed her ID and walked towards the man. When she reached him the greying woman gave her a tight nod and she left while Lisbon crouched down next to him.

Several minutes passed the scene bathed in complete tense silence. Even nature seemed to be holding its breath.

"Hey Joni. It's me Tess. I know it's been awhile. I…" her voice broke. She cleared her throat trying again but finding no words.

While falling back into silence the man halted in his actions and raised his head still not looking into his companion's face but observing her from the corner of her eye. With a small nod he resumed his previous actions.

Encouraged Lisbon reached for his hand stroking the child's back tentatively. As he didn't flinch and left his hand in Lisbon's she cradled it softly in her lap drawing soothing circles on the back of his hand.

"I'm sorry. That I' ve been so busy."

With a reminiscing smile on her face she continued not really knowing what would be the right thing to say:" We're older now but we're still part of the feared Lisbon gang. You know tight knit like Siamese twins. We trusted each other. You remember? I know I don't really deserve your trust anymore but I still trust you… to do the right thing."

She took the hand that's been stroking the child's head. She held them fimly in her hands tucking him to face her way. She softly leaned her forehead against his releasing his hands to hold his head in place. Meanwhile the Coroner took the child from the man's lap.

"We have to go Joni. The child has to be taken away from here and we have to clean you and we have to talk. Okay?" Lisbon told him slowly so he could follow.

As response he nodded and let himself be helped up by his sister. Walking him towards the car declining the offered cuffs from both Rigsby and Cho reminding them:" Shouldn't you be carrying out my orders?"

At the car the greying woman cornered her.

"Hello. I'm Melanie McNair, his social care giver," she said holding out her hand.

" You must be Teresa Lisbon. Jonathan's sister," she went on in a slightly accusing tone of voice.

Lisbon took her hand tentatively. Her guilty conscience depriving her off her normal fierceness and strength. So she only nodded in response.

"Good to finally meet you. Jonathan speaks of you and your brothers a lot. What's going to happen to him," the last part was spoken indifferently.

Lisbon recovered from the slight jabs she'd been given and started to answer when her facial expression turned into a frown.

What do you mean? Shouldn't you have his back? That sounded a lot like you already convicted him!" Lisbon pressed out her jaw set angrily.

She felt a hand on her shoulder soothing her. Of course her team had disobeyed her orders to leave her and Cho was there to comfort her in his own way.

"We are going to take him with us, talk to him and treat him as an innocent person til we proved otherwise," Cho deadpanned stoically.

Lisbon smiled at Cho gratefully and reminded them sternly:" We see us in the office after you carryed out my orders.

Jane had been quiet ever since they had found out that this man was Lisbon's brother. For once he didn't know how to handle the situation. He had always had problem interacting with these kind of people. Mentally disabled people. So he rode shot gun for once not bothering Lisbon.

Upon arriving at CBI Jonathan was processed and sat in interrogation while Lisbon had to deal with Minelli.

"He is your brother Lisbon. You can't work this case," Minelli said sternly.

"Boss with all due respect. But I won't leave my brother to be thrown to the wolves because he can't defend himself. He'll end up be the easy suspect. I'm not gonna let this happen. Jane is too involved in the Red John case as well, and he still works it. I'm not taking no for an answer!" Lisbon almost yelled in her despair.

With that she stormed out of the office towards interrogation room one to talk with her brother.

* * *

Please read and review. I'd like to know if I should bother with continuing.


	2. Eternity can't ever change your mind

**Disclaimer: Don't own.....**

**A/N: WOW don't expect it to go that smoothly. But sometimes I surprise myself. Well here is the next chapter. And thanks to everyone that reviewed. They certainly make my day :)  
**

* * *

**Eternity can't ever change your mind.**

-

-

-

Lisbon halted outside the interrogation room trying to control her erratic breathing. She thought she was angry but really she was only felling helpless and a little guilty. Joni had to be in trouble to make her realize how much she had missed her older brother.

In all those years after her mother's death she had resented him sometimes. These realisations hurt like hell and increased her feelings of shame. Especially the stupid reasons for the slowly increasing resentment towards him.

He had been the big invincible brother who always had the right things to say when she was upset. She would have needed him so much to help her after their mother's death. The first two years without her were hell but Joni had still been there. He had taken over the job of raising them. He always had the right things to say. And then she had resented him for getting the easy way out

She felt the tears well up in her eyes reminiscing her childhood, well more the less happy part of it. The tears came from the pain and hurt they'd been through but also from the shame of actually thinking that.

How could go from a able minded witty youth to a vegetable be the easy way out? She despised herself for thoughts like that. These emotions and thought had been the real reason for her constantly decreasing amount of visits she'd paid him til she completely stopped seeing him.

She knew Benedikt, one of her younger brothers had been visiting regularly til he had to move to New Jersey but he still called.

Taking a deep breath , brushing off a stray tear she pulled the door open ready to get this done. She halted abruptly right behind the door because she couldn't see Joni. Confused she turned around scanning the hallway. Upon hearing a noise sounding really close to a chuckle she cautiously wakled back into the room. Slowly making her way towards the table she stopped looking around searchingly.

„I heard someone chuckle in here. But no one's in here."

Sighing theatrically she continued to mutter to herself:" Maybe Jane is right and I work way to much and let lose way too few times. The stress is making me go crazy. I better go see the shrink right away."

Again a chuckle echoed through the room.

This time Lisbon jumped for show clutching her heart as if she'd been scared out of her mind.

„Shit. I hate ghosts!"

While she said this she slowly bent down peeking under the table finding green eyes staring back at her sparkling with surpressed amusement

With a wide grin she said:"Thank god it's you. I thought I'd go crazy."

Joni bit his lip to prevent him from laughing out loud but after a while he shook his head to confirm that there were no ghosts.

„Can I come in?" Lisbon asked indicating the table with her hand.

Again Joni bit his lip scrunching up his nose in deep thought. Finally he made some room for his sister to join him under the table.

Lisbon made herself comfortable beside her brother looking around the room appreciatively.

„Nice place. Where are we?"She asked remembering his games from the time she had still visited the residential home their father had hid him in the moment he could be released from hospital.

Joni drummed a complicated rhythm onto the legs of the table seemingly far off into his own world he retreated to when the outside world became too overbearing to enjoy.

Lisbon didn't push knowing this would only unsettle him. Instead she joined in his rythem tapping her feet onto the floor. This brought a smile on her brother's face and managed to widen hers.

Everything came back to her. The good times her and Joni would sit in his room making music. She was quite good playing the guitar and quite decent at the piano and Joni was a hell of a drummer. A member of several bands in the area. It had been him who took her deeper into the dark realms of the metal micro cosmos of Sacramento. And had definitely been responsible for her recklessness to that time. Her wish to become a member of a band herself when she was old enough.

She wrecked her brain trying to remember the last time she played an instrument. Now sitting there under the table tapping rhythm after rhythm with her cool big brother set her back into the good old days and made her feel happier than she had been in a long time.

Finally Joni turned towards her still drumming a quite complicated rythem he said:" We' re at Atticer."

He looked thoughtful as he studied her. Of course she knew where Atticer was.

They had gone there every time they couldn't take it anymore. When their father had been drunk again and had turned violent on them. Then Joni and her had packed some stuff, took their younger brother's and left for Atticer. Well the name for their secret place wasn't really creative seeing they went into the attic but the world they had created was.

„I always liked it there,"Lisbon murmured.

A comfortable silence filled the air.

„Do you go there often?" Lisbon asked.

This time Joni reacted immediately:" Yeah. When the big bad man comes!"

It sounded dark and a bit scared. Lisbon observed him contemplatively.

„Who's the bad man, Joni?" Lisbon asked calmly.

„The big bad man!" Joni whispered turning away from her and resuming his tapping onto the legs of the table.

„Joni," Lisbon enquired reaching for his shoulder. As Jonathan flinched away from her touch she took that as her cue to leave him be for now.

„You hungry or thirsty?" Lisbon asked him while risng to his feet.

As he didn't react she said:" Do you have to use the bathroom?"

Again he gave no indication that he had heard. Lisbon nodded to herself and sadly left the room.

Arriving in the kitchenette she prepared herself a cup of coffee taking some calming deep breaths to get her emotions back under control.

„Atticer," she sadly smiled to herself.

Meanwhile in the observation room neither Jane nor Minelli really knew what to do with the scene that had just unfolded before their eyes.

* * *

A/N: That was quite a Lisboncentric chapter. I'll try to get the rest of the team back in the picture as well. But Lisbon is the main character in this story. Please let me know what you think.


End file.
